Managed IT companies are characterized by charging businesses by the package with a monthly payment. Isn’t that a waste of money? Can’t I just call an IT guy to come out or hire someone? Maybe Managed IT is right for you, maybe it isn’t. Let's see what a managed IT company actually does compared to the technician you call when you need help.

Problem Prevention

There are inherent problems with outsourcing your IT issues to an IT company paid by the hour. Without the preventative diagnostics that a managed IT company would perform, problems will start piling up unseen. Your email server may go down, or client relations system be put on hold. Any business person understands that time is money. Every minute wasted on preventable IT problems is lost revenue. Security, patch management, and data backup are among the essential services offered to prevent viruses and outdated software.

24/7 Alerts

24/7 Alerts are an essential component of managed IT services. Imagine receiving a security problem after you close up your office and return the next day and find yourself spending the morning calling up your outsourced IT company, waiting for the technician to arrive, waiting for them to fix the problem. Its basically just a whole lot of waiting. Who wants to do that? When given proper permission and access, a managed IT technician is altered of a problem the moment it happens, and can begin work on the problem immediately. This prevents potential downtime in which your staff could be working to fix a problem. For example, a problem arises at 2:30 in the morning, it can be fixed by the next morning, ensuring the flow of work is not disrupted.

Spreading the Cost of Services

Managed IT makes their money by offering a specialized service to a wide number of clients. You may be thinking of hiring an IT personnel team for your office, but that may end up costing more than a customized managed IT package. A monthly subscription is all it takes to keep your computers and networks running full capacity. Paying an IT personnel may result in overpayment for a service that managed IT companies can afford to charge less for. Outsourcing to an IT company by the hour may initially cost less because you are paying on an as-need basis, but the accumulation of unmanaged, invisible problems may leave you paying more in the end. It is much more efficient to have your managed IT company fix these problems before they occur and become out of control. Every business is different and needs different things. Large companies may be able to afford an IT department, but smaller companies do better with a managed IT service.

IT Professionals Do It Better

If you don’t have outsourced IT or an IT department, you probably have another regular employee who is the “go-to” guy for all your computer problems. He or she has some programming or repair background and is able to fix problems better than anyone else could on your team. It may feel like you are saving money by not hiring an in-house IT person or outsourcing your IT work. But it is important to note while this person is taking time to fix computer problems, they aren’t doing what they would normally do earn the company money. Time can be spent more efficiently doing whatever they were hired to do be it sales, accounting or management. That department is suffering because that person is being taken away from their normal duties. Think about what a profession IT person could do for you. They have training and on the job experience to locate the problem quickly and effectively. This way less time is spent away from their work and more time is spent making the company money.

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